It’s no secret that Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY) is a company in transition -- even neighborhood newspapers have reported it’s entry into the digital field and the controversial, but partial, abandonment of its photo-film roots. Today, Kodak, once known as the “Great Yellow Father” to its Tri-X-using film photographers, is, according to company reports, focusing on these five business efforts: digital capture, digital and film, the health industry, commercial printing, and its display and components division.
Last week, I talked to Chris Johnson, Eastman Kodak Co.’s Display and Components Group business segment manager. Chris -- “Call me CJ” -- is the author of a Six-Sigma book titled Using Quality Methodology Throughout the Commercialization Process (published by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers). He’s also an important team member in Kodak’s Flexible Display Group, one of four Kodak has assembled under its Display and Components Group. The other groups are OLED, Image Sensors and Optical Display Films.
Kodak’s Display and Components Group has developed a changeable, digitally fed, flexible film suitable for small (at this time) monochrome displays: signs; shelf labels; retail pricing cards; wayfinding systems; hotel, convention and tradeshow identification systems; and more.
Kodak’s technical term for its flexible-display technology is polymer-dispersed cholesteric liquid crystal (PDChLC). For clarity, I’ll dissect the definition. “Polymer” -- polymerization -- describes simple molecules chained together, usually forming plastic; “dispersed” means scattered; Webster’s says “cholesteric” is a liquid crystal characterized by a screwlike structure and great optical activity. It also defined “liquid crystal” as a liquid in which nearby molecules have a fixed orientation to each other.
If Kodak has its way, PDChLC will become as common an acronym as CRT, LED or OLED. Essentially, and this is my definition, these are flexible, plastic-based displays with high-optical (cholesteric) liquid crystals strategically scattered through them. CJ said the systems offer advantages over conventional LCDs (for example, a PDChLC system retains its image when switched “off”) and OLEDs (which are more sensitive to water), and that the company has devised innovative, roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques. He said Kodak’s roll-film production roots provide the expertise to mass-produce these, and other, flexible displays.
The display substrate is polyester, and, at this time, the flipside electronics are screenprinted, but Kodak is looking at inkjet production methods. CJ said Kodak is the world’s expert in film coatings and chemical engineering.
Although a few of these described contrivances are still on lab tables, Kodak’s concept is unique in that its flexible display is a passive-matrix system (no controlling transistors), and the displays’ image remains on screen after the device is switched off. Passive-matrix systems are less expensive to produce. In fact, you could describe the passive-matrix system as a “Sleeping Beauty” component, because the images -- signs, ad displays or price tags -- remain constant (asleep), until an outside source causes a change. A wireless (EEEI 802.11b), hand-held “tag writer” rouses the static form.
Future systems may have active-matrix electronics (with signal-receiving transistors), depending upon the intended applications. Presently, the flexible display produces two colors -- whitish gray and dark blue -- and the screen requires ambient (reflective) light, similar to electronic-ink systems, but opposite of the internally illuminated CRT, LCD or OLED systems. The flexible-display system uses electricity only while metamorphosing -- four “AA” batteries can power a 50-dpi, 5 x 7-in. display for one year, with daily message changes.
The display’s ability to hold its programmed image increases its retail and signage applications. CJ said the low cost and easy-change factor would attract buyers. He offers the example of a grocery-store manager electronically cutting bread prices at the end of the day, to encourage buyers and reduce the number of “day-old” loafs carried back to the baker. Envision this system in Target or Wal-Mart type stores, too, where pricing, display and information signs change all too frequently.
As the proposed product should be inexpensive to buy, install, maintain and use, it’s appropriate for high-tech signshops to offer its customers. And, the product’s versatility offers further opportunities. Electronically changeable, digital price tags, for example. CJ said, “It’s painful for large stores to change prices.”
CJ outlined Kodak’s flexible-display development plan: • Small iconic displays; • Small, simple signage; • Large format signage; • Develop new opportunities; • Expand the display functionality by increasing resolution, adding color and an active matrix system; • Develop complementary technologies
In common use, the thin PDChLCs are unbreakable (“durable, shatterproof and almost kid-proof”). They also have a wide viewing angle. Kodak’s widest flexible-display film is 14 in., but the company can obtain wider displays by designing and building larger production machines. The systems aren’t for sale now, but the technology will be officially announced in mid-May, at the Society for Information Display (SID) conference (Seattle). Beta testing begins in 2005.
Because the system doesn’t require on-board power or electronics, I could see it used as built-in automobile license plates, where the owner’s identification numbers are imprinted on passive-matrix, rewritable “plates” by a proprietary coding system (a state-owned tag writer) and changed annually, when fees are paid. Think of the savings in metal, paint and stickers. Also, in this instance, the plates could include other readable codes -- those proving insurance, safety or emissions compliance, or other information that might assist in theft recovery.
Besides, it would affirm the prophecy CJ offered in our conversation. He said, “Electronic displays will be ubiquitous in the future.”
